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East Village Irish Bar Dempsey's Is Closing This Weekend
By
Nell Casey
Published Apr 15, 2016
Modified Apr 15, 2016
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By
Nell Casey
Published Apr 15, 2016
Modified Apr 15, 2016
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After this Sunday, pints of Guinness will not longer be expertly poured out at Dempsey's, the longtime East Village pub on Second Avenue. After 24 years, the bar is closing up so owner Tom O'Byrne can focus on his other nearby bars, including sister pub Slainte and the gussied up gastropubs Cooper’s Craft and Kitchen.
The bar opened as Jack Dempsey's Pub in 1992, changing to Dempsey's Pub in 1998 when O'Byrne became the sole proprietor. "Like a lot of good things, however, it’s reached the end of its cycle and on Sunday night after service Dempsey’s Pub will close for good," O'Byrne told Bedford and Bowery. "Obviously part of it is related to costs, and the demand for the type of place like Dempsey’s is not there anymore in the way it was before." If there comes a time when there's no demand for Irish pubs in NYC, consider the city too far gone for redemption.
Leading up to the shutter, the bar is offering an all-day happy hour of $5 beers, wines and well drinks plus can and bottled beer specials at night. Dempsey's loyal trivia players and lovers of the pub's live Irish music nights can sate their cravings at Slainte on the Bowery after Dempsey's gives up the ghost.
Update: Owner Tom O'Byrne offered the following poetic closing note.
The hospitality industry continues to evolve. Trends come and go, consumers tastes change as do their expectations. But New York is an amazing city and we remain optimistic as ever that as much as things change and tho' one chapter closes (or ends) another one is not too far from opening (or beginning).
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Nell Casey
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